Friday, August 24, 2007

I purchased Lace Style, and two books by Elizabeth Zimmerman: Knitting Without Tears and Knitting Workshop.

Somehow, on my first order, I managed not to buy any books, even though the book sale was the whole reason I went over to Knit Picks in the first place. So, of course, when I realized that the book sale was about to end, I had to rush over there and grab some books. And more sock yarn, apparently.

Alert Readers (and/or Knit Picks Junkies) may notice Peacock in the front - didn't I buy that color already? Well, yes, dears, I did. But see, this is different. It's Special. The regular Peacock is rather bright. Girl liked it, so it will be socks for her. When I saw the Peacock "special dye lot", it looked more muted, so I snapped up two balls of the special dye lot as well. I am so glad I did, because I really like it.

Confession

I also really like the Lily Pad "special," the sock yarn on the right, as you saw yesterday. But I lied. That relationship is moving way faster than I let on. In fact...

Uh, yeah. That's a finished sock. In five days. Granted, it's a finished sock for a 6-year-old, but still. In fact, the swatch pic I posted? Faked. Well, not really faked. It is an actual swatch, after all. But I knit the swatch yesterday while I was reading blogs, then took a picture and posted it. The sock was already finished.

This pair will be a welcome replacement for this:Ah, yes, the blue Cascade socks for Boy1. Toe-up in elastic cotton yarn. Just. Not. Working. To be frogged.

(Both Lily Pad and Peacock are now sold out in the special edition. Sorry. There are 5 other Special colors tho - Tuscon, Shale, Riverbed, Meadow, and Tuscany. I love them alllllllll. Especially Meadow. Hmm.)

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Today on Knitting Daily, Sandi talks about her beloved stuffed purple cow, Cowie, that she had growing up. I'm sure we all had a favorite soft toy when we were kids, and many of us still have ours! (Yes, me too.)

I love this quote from Sandi: "Knit a toy for a child, and maybe someday they'll be all grownup like me, digging through their basement searching for the one denizen of Toyland who really mattered to them their whole life long."

Friday, August 17, 2007

Thanks for your patience during the recent hiatus and technical difficulties. Yesterday, I plugged my camera into the USB port and it loaded right up. My printer works now, too. So who knows. (Digital gremlins?) On to the FOtos!

Sockapalooza 4!!

The socks:Note the excellent fit and stupendous stripiness. I love stripes. Not shown: the toasty warmness.

The treats:Clockwise, from top left: Zen Party trail mix by Archer Farms. Envelope from cute enclosed card (oops, no photo). Supercute yarn-printed emery board from Knitters Mercantile in Columbus, Ohio. Three samples of Soak. Ohio State University coasters.

The coasters, hmm. Well, I live about 30 minutes from the University of Michigan, sworn enemy of Ohio State. We have a little saying:

Oh how I hateOhio State

Yes, we are nothing if not clever here in Michigan. However, in honor of fabulous knitter Lola, we used the Ohio State coasters until the kids decided they made excellent mass-onslaught mini-frisbees.

The amazing Zen Party matchiness:I love that the socks and the snack mix matched! I don't know if that was planned or not. But I love it. (Did I mention the love? I did? Ok then.)

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, or, Two Things Michigan Should be Known for Besides Amazingly Clever Rhyming Couplets Disparaging Rival Universities:

This bridge (more impressive when clicked):

The Mackinac Bridge (say MAK-in-aw) connects Michigan's two penninsulas (penninsulae?). It is 5 miles long, and is the longest bridge in the Western Hemisphere, 3rd longest in the world. The road level at midspan is 200 feet above the surface of the water. The water depth at that point is 295 feet. (Something you don't really want to think about while you're driving over it within recent memory of the events in Minneapolis.) Happy 50th Anniversary, Mackinac Bridge!

Used the leftovers from the first Nettie bag, plus the end of Country Stripes:

The top one, I was trying to be clever (you know us Michigan people and clever), so I held both yarns together while casting on and binding off. I hate it. I'll use it anyway. I made both of these in one week. For me, that's pretty fast.

Not So Fast

Ok, Nettie should not take this long to knit. I am stuck on the base garter stitch section. It's not hard, not at all. Just sloggy. A decent TV night should take care of it, if I just do it.

Sadly, I took this photo before I left, and it doesn't look much different now. Please don't tell Dreamy.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Woot! I am published! Cara from january one is the host of this month's editionof Yarnival!, and one of my multiple submissions was selected as a lucky participant!

Not seeing the link on her site? Scroll down. More. Keep going. More, more more. There - see the next section under diy? (either "falalalala" or "fofofofo") The last paragraph in that section starts, "Socks, socks, SOCKS!" And that's where I am.

Many, many talented writers and knitters are featured. Please go check their blogs too. There's some great stuff out there (but you knew that already).

P.S. - Sorry, I am such a bad host! If you came over here from january one, thank you! Please have a long look around. I hope you find something you like and come back to visit often. Please also stop by my other blog:Make-A-Bag, which is dedicated to DIY reusable shopping bags. Thanks again!

You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer. You are through those knitting growing pains and feeling more adventurous. You can follow a standard pattern if it's not too complicated and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've started to experiment with different fibers and you might be eyeing a book with a cool technique you've never tried. Perhaps you prefer to stick to other people's patterns but you are trying to challenge yourself more. Regardless of your preference, you are continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as well you should since your non-knitting friends are probably dropping some serious hints, these days.http://marniemaclean.comTake this quiz!

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

I'll be out of town for a few days, so it will be quiet here for probably the next week.

Of course, going out of town and having no time to play means my Ravelry invite showed up in the inbox this morning! (Woo hoo!)

AND, I can now reveal my Sock Pal, since she received her socks! Yay, I am so glad they fit and she likes them... and they arrived safely!

Oh, and I have had no time to mess with the computer stuff (I think my USB port got unplugged), so still no pictures of my socks here. But you can see them at Lola's blog. She put lots of fun stuff in the box; I will get my pictures up as soon as I can when I get back.

They fit great! They are warm! They look very well knit! (Toe-up on circulars with short row heels! I will never have another pair knit like this!) Stockinette on the instep and a 3x3 rib on the cuff. The colorway is Pistacio from Cider Moon, and I love how they snuck a little pink and purple in there. The color went into a stripe effect on the cuff - perfect.

(ACK! Arguing with peripherals again. Pictures to follow.)

Thank you, Lola!

(Ok, I gotta take them off. It's 85 degrees in the kitchen at 9pm. Ugh.)

Friday, August 3, 2007

Mini Sock: I wanted to try one, but couldn't find a free pattern. So I just used the Yarn Harlot's general sock rules* to make a bitty one. It's not great, but this went in my pal's Sockapalooza package, which is...

...sent! We have the finished socks on DIY sock blockers, the sock pattern (which will be published here once I know she has her package), a mini calendar on a topic I know she likes, some of the extra yarn in case of "shortage" or future holes, and the mini sock. I added a bunch of Michigan postcards, and the socks are wrapped in mad caterpillar's lovely official Sockapalooza 4 sock band, which you can download in PDF form from her site.

Stripey Goodness: This is a Ball-Band Warshrag from Mason-Dixon Knitting made from Lily Sugar 'n Cream Stripes in Country Stripes and original in Hot Purple. Once I got going, I was afraid this would look too Easter-y, but I like how it turned out. Then, I was afraid to use it (too purty), but when it is wet, the colors deepen and it is really beautiful. (The yarn is beautiful, not my knitting. In fact, there is a major mistake on the topmost slip-stitch section, which I left since it was for my use anyway. Click to make it bigger.) I originally wanted to use a chocolate brown instead of the purple, but couldn't find any at that store and couldn't wait to start until I did. I think it would have looked more sophisticated in brown. Maybe for another day...

In order to put my money where my mouth is with the Make-A-Bag-Along blog, I picked up the second Nettie again. I got a lot done last night (the mesh sections knit up SUPER fast), but forgot to take a picture today.

This coming week, I'll be working on finishing Nettie and some other WIPs. Boy1 has been quite patient with his slow-going toe-up socks, and I'd like to finish my Chevron Lace pair before I start something new.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Beth from Fake Plastic Fish has a recent post about the reusable bag bandwagon, and provides some excellent food for thought.

And she mentions the new project I hinted about a couple days ago: the Make-A-Bag-Along! This is a new blog where people can get ideas and patterns for homemade reusable shopping bags, and will probably expand into ideas on being more green in general.

I am really excited about this project. If anyone wants to submit project patterns, photos, or guest blogs, contact me at makeabag at yahoo dot com. Guest submissions will receive full credit, of course.